


Wish

by Misskiku



Series: Bederia Goodness [21]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crying, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, theres a lot of crying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27399475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misskiku/pseuds/Misskiku
Summary: Bede accompanies Ms Opal to have afternoon tea with an 'old friend of hers' who happens to run the Nursery in the Wild Area. Unbeknownst to him, Gloria is there, and witnesses him unintentionally flirting with, and flustering, one of his fans.Helping out at the Nursery, Gloria has received a Pokemon egg and it so excited for it to hatch, when something happens that causes a rift to form between her and Bede.Angst with a happy ending.
Relationships: Beet | Bede/Yuuri | Gloria
Series: Bederia Goodness [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630534
Comments: 21
Kudos: 113





	Wish

**Author's Note:**

> This is a long hurt/comfort fic with a lot of angst, so if that's not your kind of thing then maybe give this one a pass ;v;  
> I hope the fluff at the end makes up for all the angst.

Although Bede wasn't surprised at their destination, it should have been obvious where they were going to end up when Ms Opal said they were going to visit "and old friend of hers." He climbed out of the Sky Taxi and made his way around to open the door for Ms Opal, taking in the homely Pokemon Nursery nestled in a quiet nook of the Northern Wild Area. 

He had been here once before with Gloria during their seven day scout of the Wild Area. Weeks had passed since then, but Bede clearly remembered the elderly woman Ethel who ran the place. He also remembered the keen look in her weathered eyes, how she'd read him - and his feelings for Gloria - like a book. She'd insisted, with a knowing smile on her face, that the Champion had feelings for him too. Romantic feelings. 

As in, that Gloria was  _ in love _ with him. 

The unwanted recollection of that conversation sent a trickle of heat across his face. Bede swallowed it down, and shut the Taxi door firmly after Ms Opal stepped out.

"I should have realised who your 'old friend' would be," he said, biting back a sigh. "Were you deliberately vague for this reason?" 

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't," Ms Opal chuckled sweetly. "Ethel means well, even if she can be a bit… forceful at times. I'm sure you can understand that." 

"Forceful is one way to put it…"

They began to head over to the Nursery, to where a mosaic of colourful flowers bloomed out the front. A young woman tending to the garden stood up to greet them. Her clothes were covered in dirt, sweat coating her brow, and she flashed them a smile. 

"Good afternoon, Ms Opal!" the young woman beamed, before her eyes slid to Bede. "And… oh my gosh! You're- You're Bede! Gym Leader Bede!" 

She flushed and dropped her watering can. It clattered to the ground as she gaped at him. 

"I-I didn't know you were coming as well!" she squeaked. The state of her clothing, splattered with dirt, suddenly struck her, and she tried to brush some of it off before realising her hands were also caked in mud. 

"This is Margot," Ms Opal said. "She's Ethel's granddaughter, and helps run the Nursery." 

"Th-That's me!" Margot chimed. She gave a nervous, high-pitched laugh. Despite the tan of her skin, darkened by the sun, the ruddy flush of her cheeks was obvious.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Bede said politely. He gave her a comforting smile.  "I would offer to shake your hand, but perhaps that can wait until you're not so busy." He nodded to the flowers and said, "they're beautiful, by the way. It's a lovely garden." 

"Oh! Um, thank you!" she squeaked, going redder than before. 

"Now, now. Enough flirting." Ms Opal nudged Bede's side with the tip of her umbrella, making him jump. "We came here for afternoon tea with Ethel, not for you to get sweet with her granddaughter, remember?" 

He balked at her, blood draining from his face. "That was not my intention at all!" 

"Perhaps Margot should be the one to hear that, not me?" 

Margot was too busy flustering to catch what Bede, or Ms Opal, had said, and scrambled to pick up her watering can. She gave them a sharp wave and whirled on her feet to march back to the garden. Bede watched her go, his heart flopping. 

"I was merely trying to be polite," he reiterated upon spying Ms Opal's amused smile. 

"Unfortunately, you missed polite and hit charming instead, my dear." 

Bede swallowed his mortification, and made for the door. For a second, he thought he saw someone move behind the sheer curtains in the front window, but when he looked, there was no one there. No figure, no shadow, no movement. It had been a trick of the light, nothing more. He pushed that aside and opened the door. 

* * *

Gloria slumped against the back door, her heart pounding in her chest, and she slowly sank to the ground. In the second she'd moved away from the window, Bede had looked right at her. Their eyes had met. He had to have seen her, had to have known she'd been listening in, watching them, through the front window. What kind of person did he think she was now? 

She dropped her head to her knees with a groan of regret. Eavesdropping hadn't even been her intention in the first place- she'd heard voices outside and had taken a curious look out the window. It was meant to be a glance and nothing more. Just a quick look to see who it was, with the intention to prepare herself for whoever was about to enter the Nursery. Bede was the last person she'd expected to see. 

And then to hear him flirt so casually with Margot had left her speechless, absolutely dumbstruck, and she had stood there like a pillar of stone. Her brain had shut down. She'd taken a step back. Her heart had thumped in her ears, drowning everything else out, and in the next second, Bede had glanced at her. 

Of course, Gloria ran away. She'd bolted out of the Nursery's front room with her heart in her throat, escaping out the back to where she now sat in the dirt. Knots tightened in the pit of her stomach. Bede's charming smile, his sweet words, flashed in her mind and made her feel ill. 

He'd never acted like  _ that _ towards her, especially not when they'd first met. Sure, he had mellowed out considerably under Ms Opal's tutelage, but even now he was often clipped and snarky with her. Definitely not charming, not like that, not unless he was teasing her or making a point. It made something sour burn in her throat, in her chest, and she despised it. Hated it. She didn't want to feel this way. She didn't want to feel like this towards Margot, when her friend had done absolutely nothing wrong. 

Margot had looked so happy when Bede smiled at her and complimented her garden. It shouldn't make Gloria feel this way to see her so happy, yet her throat tightened when she recalled the look on Margot's face, the way she'd flushed and laughed. It was obvious that Margot was Bede's fan, and she wished she didn't know that. 

She wished she hadn't seen anything at all. And, by running away, that made her less than a coward. 

Gloria huffed as a heavy weight settled in her chest. She was being pathetic. It wasn't a big deal- Bede had tons of fans, some much more obsessed with him than others, but so did she. 

She knew that. It was a part of being a Gym Leader, a part of being the Champion, of being in the spotlight. If she knew that, then why did it bother her so much? Why was she so  _ jealous? _

And it wasn't like Margot wasn't her fan too. The first time they'd met, Margot had gotten so excited and asked for an autograph before realising she didn't have anything on her that Gloria could sign. She'd acted in almost the same way then that she did now, with Bede. 

So why? Why did her heart clench so tight upon seeing Bede act like that towards Margot? 

Did he act like that with all his fans? Charming, polite, giving them a smile worthy of a front-page magazine spread? 

Gloria grimaced at that thought and got to her feet. The churning in her gut protested, but she knew she couldn't sit out here and mope all afternoon. She was here for a reason, and had a job to do.

She turned on her heels and headed back inside to find that Bede and Ms Opal weren't in the front reception room. That meant they weren't here for the services of the Nursery. Gloria let out a sigh. Perhaps they had already left, and that possibility gave her a bit of hope that she didn't have to face Bede right now. With that in mind, she walked through to the small study room where she'd left her belongings. Sitting next to her bag was a small incubator, a white egg speckled with red and blue nestled inside. She gathered it in her arms when voices reached her ears again. 

Voices she recognised. 

* * *

Bede followed Ms Opal through the reception of the Nursery and into the adjoining house. They stepped into an open dining room, where Ethel was busying herself in the kitchen, and Bede happened to glance through the doorway of another room as they passed. There, on top of a desk, sat a bag remarkably similar to Gloria's. He almost ground to a halt at the sight of it. All he got was a split second look at the brown leather bag, but it was enough for his heart to skip at the possibility that she was here. 

_ It couldn't be Gloria's… could it? _

"It's good to see you again, Opal," Ethel said, snapping Bede from his thoughts. "You too, Bede. Come, sit. Make yourselves at home."

He straightened and focused on his manners, giving Ethel a polite smile. 

"Should you really be up and about?" Ms Opal asked. Bede pulled a chair out for her at the dining table before taking a seat beside her. 

Ethel gave a chuckle. "I'm not an invalid. It's just a bit of back pain, nothing major. And besides, I have lovely assistants helping me out." 

She smiled at Bede, and the twinkle in her eyes made his heart thump. It felt as though she was reading his mind again, as though she knew he'd spied the bag in the study. As though she was confirming it was indeed Gloria's. 

"Have you met my granddaughter, Margot?" Ethel continued, "I believe she's around your age. She's very diligent, and beautiful as well." 

Bede swallowed, ignoring that last remark. "Yes, I met her outside just now." 

"Good, good." Ethel nodded. "She's single, by the way, if you're interested-"

"Nana!" Margot gasped from the doorway, having caught the tail end of their conversation. She'd changed from the clothes she'd been gardening in, free of dirt and grime. 

Bede tried to give her a sympathetic smile, but the second their eyes met, she flushed darkly and looked away. Her embarrassment made the air suddenly awkward, and he cleared his throat. He needed to put an end to this before Ethel got any other ideas. 

"I'm not looking for… anything like that right now," Bede said. He fumbled over what to say as his cheeks began to burn. "I would rather dedicate my time to my duties as a Gym Leader at the moment." 

It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth either. There was only one person he wanted a relationship with, and she was determined to avoid love at any cost. 

"I-I'll put the kettle on!" Margot announced, and scampered into the kitchen. She ducked her head as she passed Bede, and he tried to ignore the way both Ethel and Ms Opal were looking at him. 

"That's a good idea," Ethel agreed. "Why don't you help her, Bede? It's such a nice day, we should have afternoon tea outside." 

"That sounds lovely." Ms Opal gave Bede a smile, and he resigned himself to his fate.

He stood, holding back a sigh, and stepped into the kitchen as Ms Opal and Ethel headed outside. He knew exactly what Ethel was doing, and could hardly believe that Ms Opal was playing along. 

The last thing he wanted today was to be set up with someone he hardly knew. Above everything else, he felt bad for Margot. 

"I apologise," he said, "it wasn't my intention to give you, or anyone, the wrong idea. I hope I haven't made you uncomfortable." 

"Oh, no, no, of course not!" Margot lifted her head and finally met his eyes, waving her hands frantically in protest. "You- You didn't make me uncomfortable at all! Nana's always like this with everyone. I'm… I'm used to it by now." 

She laughed, albeit nervously. 

"I know that well enough myself," Bede said lightly. "She tried to do the very same thing the first time I met her too. That time, I would have appreciated a warning, but perhaps Gloria didn't think that necessary." 

Margot's eyes widened. "Gloria? As in, the Champion?" She blinked, before saying, "oh, of course you know her. Duh!" 

She laughed at herself sheepishly, and grabbed the kettle to begin filling it up with water. 

"Um, you- you don't have to help out," she said quickly. "I know Nana's trying to, like, give us privacy or whatever but you're a Gym Leader and there's no way I could have you help me with this…" 

"It's alright, I'd be happy to help." He smiled, making her flush again. 

"O-Okay!" 

She stiffened, her voice cracking, and Bede had to wipe the shock off his face at her reaction. All he'd done was smile at her. A polite, normal smile, nothing untoward or suggestive, yet it was somehow enough to fluster her. He wondered if it would be better for him to  _ not _ smile. 

It was when she turned away from him that he noticed a leaf in her hair. Automatically, he reached for it, and she gasped at the light touch of his fingers, snapping her head to face him with a jolt. She flushed so darkly that Bede instantly regretted his actions, realising that she'd taken it the wrong way. 

"There was a leaf-" 

"Ah!" 

A gasp made Bede whirl, and the blood drained from his face, from his entire body, when he saw Gloria standing at the door to the study, her eyes wide and fixed on them. The leaf slipped from his fingers.

His excuse, the reason for this whole situation, drifted to the floor. It took his heart with it. 

Of all the people who could've walked in on them right now, it had to be her. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Gloria said, quickly looking away. Her cheeks flushed, and she clutched the incubator in her arms closer to her chest and turned to walk away. 

"Gloria, wait!" he called her name before he could think of what to say next, so when she stopped and glanced over her shoulder at him warily, his mouth went dry. 

Margot had taken the situation just as Gloria had, and stared at her feet. Her embarrassment did nothing to help. Bede's grave had been dug the very second he'd reached for that leaf. 

"It's fine, don't mind me." Gloria sounded miffed, her words clipped, and she slid her eyes from Bede. "You can… continue whatever it was you were doing."

"We weren't doing anything!"

The displeasure on her face shifted to scepticism, and she glanced between him and Margot.

"That didn't look like nothing, but if that's what you want me to think…" Gloria shrugged. 

"There was a leaf in her hair!" Bede crouched quickly and snatched the aforementioned leaf off the floor. "I was simply removing it, that's all!" 

"Oh!" Margot gasped. "That's why…?" 

"Yes!" He held Gloria's gaze despite the way his cheeks burned, the way his lungs fluttered. 

Something flashed over Margot's face, and her eyes widened. "Wait, are you two…?" 

"No, weren't not. We're not- not anything!" 

"Wow, okay then." Gloria scoffed, her expression souring. 

Shit, that wasn't what he meant at all! 

"No, that's…" 

A chime cut him off, echoing around the room. 

"Um, that's the bell in reception." Margot ducked her head and scampered around Bede. "I have to go… see to them. Gloria, you can help him with the tea, right?" 

She didn't give Gloria a chance to reply and hurried on past. Bede's heart plummeted into his stomach when the door clicked shut behind Margot, leaving him and Gloria alone in a stiff silence. 

She'd definitely gotten the wrong idea, and in his desperation to clear up the entirely different wrong idea Margot had, he'd only made things worse. 

"I didn't mean that," Bede said. The mortified heat on his face drained away, leaving him cold. 

It didn't help that Gloria refused to meet his eyes. She pursed her lips, her expression pained, before sighing heavily and marching over to the kitchen. 

"So, you must be the guest Ethel mentioned she was having over for afternoon tea, then." Gloria deposited the incubator on the kitchen counter, well away from the edge. "Did you come with Ms Opal?" 

He watched as she stepped around him, taking the kettle from where Margot had left it by the sink and set it upon the stove. Not once did she look at him, not once did she smile. 

By the looks of it, he'd done something far worse than he'd suspected, to make her so miffed at him. It took a moment for him to remember to answer her. 

"Yes, I did. I didn't realise you were here." 

"I can see that."

Bede stifled a wince at the sharp edge to her voice. 

"Ethel's back is playing up again so I'm helping out," Gloria continued. She shrugged, before gesturing to a cupboard behind him. "Tea leaves are in there. Choose whichever you like." 

Now didn't seem like the time to try and clarify what had happened earlier, and so Bede followed her directions and found packets of different tea leaves where she'd said. The Applin Tea packet caught his eyes- the very first tea they'd shared. He picked it up without thinking. 

"Let's see… tea cups are… up here?" Gloria softly mumbled to herself, movement in the corner of Bede's eyes catching his attention. 

He glanced over towards her as she opened a cupboard high above her head, rising up on her toes to reach a beautifully decorated ceramic teacup. Her fingers tapped the side of the teacup, barely skimming it, and it tilted towards the edge. Bede saw it happening and moved in time to catch the teacup before it fell, grabbing it over the top of Gloria's hand. She startled, recoiling into his chest where he stood right behind her. 

"I've got it," he sighed in relief. Bede took the teacup from her and set it down on the bench. 

"Th-Thanks." 

It was at the sound of her voice, her quiet stammer, that he realised how close he was standing to her. Her back was against his chest as he'd stepped right up to her in order to save the teacup from disaster, and in placing the teacup down in front of her, he'd unintentionally looped his arm around her. As though he were about to hug her instead. 

Bede cut a step to the side, his chest filling with heat where she'd bumped into him. That sudden contact left him dizzy and slightly breathless, all the more so than usual because behind the disgruntled expression on Gloria's face, she was blushing too. 

He cleared his throat and needed something to say in order to ease the awkward atmosphere around them. 

"Why don't you let me get the teacups?" he offered. "They're a tad high for you." 

Gloria pouted, but didn't protest. "Fine." 

She marched around him to the open cupboard where the tea leaves were, and retrieved the Applin Tea packet. The same one he'd picked. 

"Margot's the one who keeps the teacups up there," Gloria said. She placed the Applin Tea packet by the stove as Bede retrieved two more teacups with their matching saucers from up high. "I'm not usually in charge of making tea for that reason." 

"That makes sense. She's a lot taller than you." 

He'd agreed without thinking much about it, and she sent him a hard look in return. It made his heart lurch. 

"What I mean is-" 

Gloria snorted, cutting him off, and her glare fractured into a smile. "Sorry," she laughed. "You looked like I was about to bite your head off!" 

Relief filled his lungs as the tension in the air finally snapped. "Arceus, Gloria. With a glare like that, how can you blame me?" 

Her laughter trickled off into faint giggles, softening her smile. It was such a joy to see her smile again, to have her smile like that for him, that he found himself mirroring her expression. 

"I really can't stay mad at you, can I?" She nudged him gently with her elbow, and stepped around him to retrieve an array of biscuits and cookies from the pantry. 

"What you saw between me and Margot-" 

"I know, you said you were just getting a leaf from her hair. You don't have to explain it to me twice." 

She pulled out a tea tray and began to place the snacks, teacups and saucers, and a small sugar bowl on it. The kettle whistled, and Bede automatically worked on making the tea. 

"Maybe next time, don't be so quick to denounce anything between us, okay?" Gloria said. "You made it seem like you hated the idea of us even being friends." 

Bede grimaced. "That really wasn't my intention at all, you know that, right?" 

"Do I?" She quirked a smile at him. She couldn't hold her smirk for long, and broke off into a short laugh. "I'm glad Margot got to meet you, though," she continued, "she's been your fan for ages, and when she realised she'd missed you when we came here during our week in the Wild Area, she was so upset!" 

Gloria brought the tray over, and set the teapot in the centre. 

"Make sure you give her your autograph before you leave," she said. "She'll probably be too nervous to ask you herself!" 

"Alright, I'll do that." He looked towards the incubator on the bench, and asked, "trying your hand at breeding another Pokemon?" 

"Oh, it wasn't originally mine," she said, stepping over to it. The smile on her face warmed, lighting up her eyes as she gazed at it. "The Trainer whose Pokemon they found the egg with didn't want it, and so Ethel asked if I'd like to raise it. She didn't tell me what Pokemon's inside, so it's a surprise!" 

Bede couldn't draw his eyes away from her when she had that adoring smile on her face. He knew he was staring, that it wasn't proper or polite or decent or a number of other things for him to watch her like this, but he was drawn to her like a magnet, and the pull of his heart wouldn't let him turn away. 

"I'm so excited to see what Pokemon it is," Gloria continued. "It's going to hatch any day now!" 

With her attention fixed on the incubator, she hadn't noticed that Bede was as enamoured with her as she was with the egg. She was beautiful in a way he couldn't describe. Seeing her filled with delightful anticipation sent his pulse skittering, and he wished he could linger here by her side for an eternity. 

Somehow, he managed to drag his eyes from her, and picked up the tea tray. 

"I should… take this outside," he said firmly, reminding himself that he had a task to do. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't stand around with Gloria forever- not with Ms Opal and Ethel waiting for their afternoon tea. 

The last thing he wanted to do was give them an excuse to come check up on him, only to find him staring longingly at Gloria. 

"I'll get the door for you," she offered, and picked up the incubator on her way to the door. 

It was much smaller than the Galarian Ponyta egg she'd had months earlier, and she could safely cradle the incubator in one arm. Bede gave her a grateful nod as she opened the back door for him, and she followed him out after he walked through. In the shade of the verandah, Ms Opal and Ethel were seated around a cozy table. 

"Good afternoon, Ms Opal!" Gloria greeted her, "it's nice to see you again." 

"It's lovely to see you too." Ms Opal gave her a welcoming smile. "Why don't you join us for afternoon tea?" 

Bede silently bit his tongue, wondering if Ms Opal was doing this on purpose. He placed the tea tray on the table as Gloria dithered by the door.

"Yes, come join us," Ethel agreed. "It's about time for you to take a break, isn't it?" 

"I guess…" Gloria pursed her lips. "Oh, but we won't have enough tea cups then." 

She turned as if to go grab one, when Bede stopped her. 

"It might be better if I go and get one for you," he suggested. 

"Right, of course." She gave him a sheepish, but grateful, smile. "Thanks." 

He smiled back at her, and left to retrieve another tea cup. 

* * *

Gloria was glad she decided to take Ms Opal and Ethel's advice to join them for afternoon tea. The weather was perfect, the breeze absolutely delightful, and she munched on a sweet chocolate biscuit as they chatted away in the shade. Surprisingly, not once did Ethel mention romance or dating, and Gloria found she could relax without having to worry about that. Even Bede seemed to ease into the conversation as time passed, and the afternoon drifted by without a hitch. 

With a smile, Gloria savoured the last drops of her Applin Tea, relishing the sweet mix of apple and cinnamon on her tongue. Bede had made her a cup of it months ago, the first time she had ever had tea with him, and she remembered that day whenever she drank it. 

It always managed to bring a smile to her face. 

When everyone had finished with their drinks, Gloria collected them all on the tea tray and stood. 

"Thanks for the afternoon tea," she said. "I'll wash these up." 

She went to grab the handles of the tray when Bede took it instead, getting to his feet in a swift motion. 

"I'll help you with that," he offered, and nodded to the incubator, "as you have your arms full already." 

He said it so casually, already moving towards the door with the tray balanced evenly in his hands, as though he'd already planned this out. 

"What a gentleman," Ethel remarked. The keen smile on her face made Gloria's heart skip. "Make sure you thank him!" 

All Gloria could do was nod, grab her incubator, and hurry after Bede so she could open the door for him. She escaped inside before Ethel could say anything more. 

Either Bede hadn't heard Ethel's comment or didn't feel the need to react to it, as he continued on like normal. The air between them remained comfortable. They fell into a routine by the sink, Gloria washing the dishes and Bede drying them, without having to say anything at all. It felt natural working like this beside him. Like it was the most simplest thing in the world, she couldn't help but smile each time she passed a teacup to him. She enjoyed it, and it no longer felt like a chore. 

Who knew washing dishes could be so soothing? 

Gloria handed the last teacup to Bede when a faint crack caught her attention. She whirled on her feet towards the noise, in time to see fracture lines split across the surface of the egg. 

"It's hatching!" she gasped. 

Her heart leapt in her chest, and she rushed over to remove the incubator's protective glass. Anticipation buzzed through her veins. She sent Bede a grin, unable to contain the excitement building inside her, and clasped her hands together as the egg cracked again. 

"Bede, Bede, get over here!" She waved him over hurriedly, not taking her eyes off the egg for even a split second. "It's hatching!" 

"Yes, I heard." Amusement dripped from his voice. He came over and stood beside her as she animatedly bounced on her toes. 

Another crack, another fault splitting across the fragile surface, and Gloria gasped. Air caught in her lungs. Breath held tight, she grabbed Bede's sleeve without thinking when two small, stubby feet punctured through the base of the shell. Two little arms broke through the sides, and with a jolt, the top of the speckled shell flew off. 

Gloria stared speechlessly, in utter delight, at the crown of spikes poking above the egg shell, two beady black eyes blinking as the baby Pokemon took in the world for the first time.

"It's... a Togepi," Bede noted.

At the sound of his voice, Togepi turned to face him, and she gave a sweet, happy trill when their eyes met. 

"Oh, my gosh!" Gloria couldn't hold back her squeal. "It's so cute!" 

Togepi beamed at Bede, raising her little arms in the air. 

"Look at you! Aren't you just the sweetest thing?" she cooed, and reached out to take Togepi's little hand. 

Togepi startled, gave a sharp cry, and scampered off the base of the incubator towards Bede, and cowered into his shirt. 

"Aw, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" 

Gloria pulled back her hand with a sheepish laugh. 

"Togepi already likes you, huh?" 

She glanced at him, ready to laugh it off, when she saw that he wasn't smiling. His gaze was fixed on Togepi. The tight line of his jaw, the weight of his expression, made her heart flop. 

"Gloria…" 

He spoke her name quietly. Firmly. And she knew then what had happened. 

_ Oh. _

"I'm so sorry."

_ Oh no. _

Her heart plummeted. She felt cold. A strange laugh escaped her lungs, and she reached out for Togepi once more. 

_ This wasn't…  _

_ This wasn't happening... _

"Hey, little one," she tried again. Spoke softer, slower, calmer. Spoke through the lump in her throat, and reached to touch the spiked crown of Togepi's head. "I'm- I'm Gloria. I'm going to be your Trainer…" 

Togepi cried and ducked around Bede's side away from her, burrowing beneath his arm. Gloria snatched her hand back. 

"I'm really sorry." Bede's voice echoed through her head. He sounded muffled, like he was speaking underwater. "When I spoke, Togepi looked towards me, which made me the first person she saw. She must have imprinted on me." 

Gloria didn't want to hear it.

"O-Oh. I… I see." She swallowed. Held her hands close to her chest. She felt numb. Dizzy. Unable to breathe or think. Togepi cowering into Bede was all she could see. 

_ This wasn't… this couldn't be real... _

"I didn't think this would happen," Bede said. "I'm sorry."

She barely heard him over the pounding of her heart. 

"Th-That's okay!" Gloria flashed a smile. She laughed it off. Waved it off. "These things happen. It's not your fault." 

It was a mistake to meet his eyes. He blinked at her incredulously, and his shock sent a wave of heat over her eyes. 

"And, y'know, Togepi's a Fairy Type," she continued quickly. "So, it works perfectly!" 

The concern in his eyes pierced her heart. He worried his brow. Her less-than-convincing act wasn't working, and tears were threatening to build in her eyes the longer he looked at her. 

"Hey, I've even got a Great Ball in my bag! Lemme go grab it for you." She whirled on her feet, using that excuse to dash into the study where her bag was. 

The second she stepped through the door, a sharp gasp tore from her throat. She slapped a hand across her mouth to stifle it and the ones that followed. Pain burned in her chest. Her hand trembled across her mouth, lips wobbling, face scrunching as tears began to fall. 

She wouldn't let them. She couldn't. Not here, not now. She swiped them away, blinked them back, and forced down the shuddering gasps and sobs that lurched in her chest.

Not now. 

Great Ball in her hand, she marched back to Bede. 

"Here you go!" She thrust it into his hands and gave him her biggest, brightest smile yet. Covered up the pain. 

"Thank you…" He looked confused, brow slightly furrowed. 

She couldn't bear to look at him any longer. 

"Anyway, my break's well and truly over, so I've gotta go!" She gave a wave, turned on her heels. "See ya later!" 

Before he could respond, she rushed out the side door and into the yard. Away from Bede. Away from Ms Opal and Ethel, away from Margot. Far into the yard, as far as she could, to where only Pokemon and silence remained, so no one could see her cry. 

* * *

_ Why did this happen? _

Tears blurred her vision. Gloria swallowed the tight lump in her throat, trying to loosen the vice around her neck. It clamped down hard. Choked her. 

_ How did this happen? _

Togepi's precious trill echoed in her ears. The joy on her face stuck in Gloria's mind- the look on Togepi's face as the baby Pokemon smiled at Bede.

_ "It's... a Togepi." _

The words that changed everything. 

Her hands trembled around the brush. Grip tightened. Blinking back tears, fighting them down. A hiss escaped through her teeth. 

_ Why…? _

The Boltund she was grooming, or had been trying to groom, gave a sad whine. He licked her cheek, nuzzled into her. Something cracked deep inside Gloria's chest, and she wrapped her arms around Boltund and buried her tears in his fur. 

She didn't want to believe it. Any of it. The Togepi she'd been so excited to hatch had imprinted on Bede. She'd seen him first. Turned towards him because he'd spoken. The words that had fallen from his lips haunted her now. 

_ Why did he say that?  _

_ Why, when he had to have known what would happen?  _

It hurt. Ached right to her core as though he'd torn out her heart himself, pulled it right through her ribs, her muscles, her skin, and left her bleeding. She crumbled into the empty hole in her chest. 

_ Why…? _

She couldn't voice anything. Not a sob, not a gasp, not a breath. Her pain was silent, and wracked her body with heavy shudders as she cried. Boltund whimpered and rested his head on her shoulder. He refused to leave her side after that. Even after she stood and wiped away her tears, Boltund remained with her as she continued on with her tasks. 

She felt heavy. Numb. Her movements became robotic and stiff, her lungs filled with lead. She moved from Pokemon to Pokemon without seeing, or feeling, anything. Went from task to task automatically. The only time she stopped was when it became too much, and the tears came again. She sank to the ground, into the dirt, and Boltund lapped at her cheeks, nuzzled her face, whined at her, and she felt nothing at all. 

Gloria couldn't bring herself to react. It hurt too much, and the second she thought about it again, about Togepi or Bede, she crumbled.

_ Why? _

It burst through her throat without a sound. The cry she couldn't voice, her question, her demand- burning with anguish in her chest.

_ How could you do that to me? _

It burned until there was nothing left. 

* * *

Gloria didn't feel the tears falling down her cheeks. The ache where her heart had been was all that remained, and she trudged slowly back to the Nursery as the setting sun cast the Wild Area in a golden glow. The sunset should have been beautiful to her- upon looking up at the sky, she felt nothing. 

Silence met her inside the Nursery. She moved quickly to the study where her bag was, sliding it on her back as a broken sob wedged in her throat. 

_ Of course he wasn't here.  _

She didn't want to see Bede, but the fact that he was gone, that he'd left without saying anything, hurt more than anything. 

_ So, that's it…? _

Her vision blurred with tears. 

_ You take my Pokemon and leave without saying anything…?  _

She clenched her jaw hard to stop her lips from trembling. 

_ As if an apology is good enough after what you did? What you took from me? _

It hurt. 

She didn't want this. She didn't want any of it. 

_ How could you? _

She didn't want to feel this way towards him, but the pain ran too deep. It had made its home in her heart, in the marrow of her bones- it had taken over, and made her wonder if Bede had even cared at all. 

_ Why…? _

_ Why did this happen?  _

_ Why did you say that? _

_ Why did you leave me? _

Thoughts came hard and fast. She'd had enough, and turned towards the entrance. A figure moved in the doorway, and Gloria had to blink away tears to make out that it was Margot. 

Upon seeing Gloria on the verge of tears, the shock on Margot's face washed over with concern, and she rushed over to embrace her. 

"Oh, Gloria…!" She wrapped her arms around Gloria in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry. I heard what happened with Togepi." 

_ Does everyone know…? _

Her heart sank deeper into the pit of her stomach. Being in Margot's arms sapped her tears and her will to protest, so she gave in and settled into the hug.

"I don't know what to say," Margot continued, "I'm really sorry. I know how excited you were about the egg and then…" 

She gave Gloria a gentle squeeze. The pain in Margot's voice constricted the lump in Gloria's throat, and she took a deep breath. Forced down the tears, forced a smile on her face. 

"It's alright, these things happen," Gloria said lightly. It didn't sound like her. "I know he didn't mean for it to happen."

_ Did she? _

Margot stepped out of the hug and blinked for a moment when she saw that Gloria was smiling. 

"Y-Yeah, of course he didn't," Margot agreed. "If… if we ever get a Togepi egg again or- or another egg at all, you'll be the first to know!"

Another egg. The thought made her feel ill. 

"Thanks, Margot." Her own voice sounded far away. "Did you end up getting an autograph from Bede?" 

Change the subject. Think about something else. 

She smiled brighter than before when Margot blushed sweetly, using the effort to make sure her mask didn't slip. 

Smile. Be happy for her. 

"I-I did, yeah." Margot laughed bashfully, "he autographed his Rare League Card for me." 

"That's great!" 

Her heart throbbed. It took all her energy not to break or give away any sign of the pain ripping through her chest, and Gloria managed to say goodbye to Margot and leave the Nursery with dry eyes. The trip back to Postwick in the Sky Taxi was in silence, and she stared blankly out the window feeling as empty as the cloudless sky. 

She collapsed straight onto her bed when she returned home, not bothering to take off her shoes. Absently, she checked her phone. 

Gloria turned it off immediately upon seeing a new message from Bede. She didn't want to read it. Didn't want to think about it, or about him. 

It hurt too much. 

She cried in the solitude of her room, face buried in her pillow, and howled. Nothing held the agony at bay anymore, and it tore free with painful wails and broken sobs from Gloria's chest. 

She cried alone until she thought she had no more tears left, and then again when her mum came home and found her. The comfort of her mother's hug broke her even further. Through her sobs, she managed to recount what had happened, and her mother held her for as long as she needed. 

Soon, Gloria fell into silence. The pain remained, blazing in her chest with a tight ache she couldn't ignore. 

_ Why… _

"I'm sure Bede feels horrible about it," her mum said softly. "Neither of you knew this would happen." 

"He should have known!" Gloria shot out of her mother's embrace, inflamed. 

"Gloria, it was an accident-" 

"I don't care! How could he just forget something like that?! That Togepi imprint on the first person they see?"

Vitriol roared up her throat with a rush of acidic bile, burning and acrid. It seared through her veins. 

"He knew that!"

_ She hated this. _

_ She hated-  _

"How could he do this to me…?" 

Gloria crumbled into tears once more.

* * *

Bede stared down at his phone, his eyes lingering on the icon beneath his message that told him Gloria hadn't read it yet. Hours had passed since he'd sent it. Hours that he'd spent ruminating over everything that had happened, from the moment he'd regretfully spoken, to when she'd flashed a smile at him and thrust a Great Ball into his hands. 

Her smile remained in his mind even now, as he sat on his bed long after the sun had set. Ballonlea had descended into darkness, illuminated only by the glowing mushrooms that sprouted throughout the town, and the silence of his room was broken by a delicate cry. 

Togepi, fast asleep on his pillow, rolled over with a faint sigh. Bede's heart sank when he glanced at her. What had happened wasn't Togepi's fault in any way, but the sight of the baby Pokemon brought everything back. The way Gloria's smile had shattered when he'd apologised and she'd realised what had happened was all he could think. The pain in Gloria's eyes had broken through her smile. He hadn't been able to speak, no words would form, when he saw the hint of red washing over her eyes. Her bottom lip had trembled- evidence that she'd been fighting back tears. 

Gloria had turned on her heels and left before Bede could find his voice again. The Great Ball she'd thrust into his hands had weighed heavily in his grip, and he'd stood there, staring down at Togepi, when Ms Opal and Ethel returned. 

Everything after that was a blur. Regret dug a knife in his chest at how mindless he had been. He'd hurt her, hurt Gloria, in what could only be seen as a callous betrayal. Stolen the baby Pokemon she'd been so excited about at the very moment it'd hatched. His apology had fallen flat. He knew as much from the way she'd brushed it off, laughed it off, and smiled. 

An apology could only go so far, and he had all but torn Gloria's heart from her chest with his mistake. Simple words wouldn't even brush the surface of the pain she was feeling now. 

She had every right to hate him. To despise him, to ignore him and his message, but the longer he stared at his unread text, the tighter his gut twisted. 

She hadn't read it, and he longed to send another. The apology he hadn't been able to voice earlier spun itself together in his mind. Bede swallowed it down. Perhaps his unread text was a sign she didn't want to hear from him, and sending another wouldn't help solve anything. This was a mess that couldn't be undone, a mistake he couldn't rectify over a simple text. 

He glanced at Togepi and he grit his teeth with self-reproach.

His guilt wasn't going to ease anytime soon.

* * *

The message remained unread for a second day. Bede's mind turned to Gloria again and again, repeating the previous day's events like a broken record stuck in a loop. He attended to his duties as a Gym Leader with Togepi clinging to his heels - occasionally picking up the baby Pokemon and cradling her close with one arm during practice matches - and he had to reign in his focus whenever it wandered, which was more often that he would like, or admit to. 

The pain on Gloria's face stuck with him. He couldn't ignore the fact that when she'd turned and left him that day, she had gone somewhere to cry. He knew that, and it ate at him constantly. 

He'd made her cry. He'd hurt her. 

Arceus, he wanted to know that she was alright. He wanted to speak with her, to see her, to apologise again and again and again until his throat was raw and his voice broke. Unease churned in his gut as the hours flew past and his text remained unread. Unread and ignored. 

As night fell, the ache in Bede's chest began to gnaw into his bones. Gloria had tried to brush everything off when it had happened, but it was obvious to him that this was far from a simple mistake to her. It had formed a rift between them. He tried to call her, only for him to hear an automated message telling him his call couldn't be connecting. 

Her phone was off. 

Bede's heart plummeted into the depths of his gut. That was the last sliver of information he needed to know for sure that Gloria wanted nothing to do with him. The mistake he'd made had been the final straw that broke the bond between them, and he may as well have burned that bridge himself by letting her leave without stopping her that day. He should have fought back, should have said something more. Anything more, anything at all, instead of watching her in silence as she'd stalked away on the verge of tears. 

It was too late. 

* * *

Gloria curled into her blankets, biting back a heavy sigh. Heat collected behind her eyes for the umpteenth time that day, and she squeezed them shut to stifle another onslaught of stubborn tears before they could form. Somehow, she'd managed to get through the whole day without crying in front of anyone. Her heartache remained a closely kept secret. Her duties had provided a needed distraction from the torrential emotions swirling inside her chest, and it was only when she was truly alone that it all came crashing down on her.

She'd cried enough for a lifetime already, and was sick of it. Tears got her nowhere, crying didn't fix anything, and it only left her feeling drained afterwards, with the occasional headache for company. 

Her mother's urging for her to forgive Bede didn't help either. 

She didn't want to forgive him.

She wanted to forget- to forget everything, to forget Togepi, to forget Bede, to forget the agony ripping through her that told her she deserved this. 

_This is what happens when you let people into your heart,_ the pain reminded her. 

_ You should know better. _

She grit her teeth hard. Harder. Harder until her jaw ached and the muscles burned. 

_ Everyone will leave you eventually. _

_ They'll hurt you. _

_ Just like your father did-  _

A broken sob cut off the horrible taunting in her mind, and Gloria wrapped herself tighter, smaller, into her blankets. She didn't want to hear it, to listen to it. 

She'd kept it at bay for so long, she'd forgotten what it felt like to hear its whisper. In the darkness of her room, it spoke louder than ever before. It was impossible to ignore, impossible to deny, when it knew her greatest fears. 

When it knew, like she did, that getting close to people only led to pain.

* * *

He was there. In Motostoke, as she was, for a series of interviews. Gloria hadn't expected to see him in the Gym, hadn't prepared herself for the sight of him and what it would do to her. Her body tensed violently. Chest tightened, squeezed the air from her lungs. Venom burned up her throat until she tasted bile. Bede glanced at her and his eyes widened in surprise, then shock, and she couldn't bear to see anything more. 

Gloria ducked her head and stalked away, gritting her teeth with fury she couldn't voice. All her anger, all her pain, wedged in her throat. 

She took it out on a punching bag in Stow-on-Side's Gym. Blow after blow she landed, hard and fast and repetitive. Again and again. Fueling the indignation blazing in her chest, searing through her veins, and she punched and slapped and kicked to fight back the tears. It didn't work. Her vision blurred as she landed another hit. Dull pain throbbed from her knuckles, but she continued. It was pain she deserved, pain she wanted to inflict on someone else, and despised the very thought of it. She hated it. All of it. Everything she couldn't fix, the mess she'd made, the way Bede had looked at her in Motostoke. His expression she couldn't tear from her mind, and so she fought. Punched. Slapped. Kicked. 

Bit down on her lip to stifle a scream.

A hand graced her shoulder, a soft voice by her ear. A gentle tug pulled her away from the punching bag, to see silver eyes filled with concern. Bea didn't get to voice anything at all, not a question, not her concern, as Gloria crumbled with a howl. 

And she cried until she had no more tears left to shed, returning to Postwick without explaining herself to Bea. The Fighting Gym Leader hadn't pressed her for answers, only nodding in silent understanding when Gloria didn't offer up an explanation for her tears. 

* * *

Three days. 

Gloria sank into her mattress, in the darkness of her room, feeling as though her body carried the weight of the world. Heavy and crushing. 

It had been three days, yet it felt like a lifetime. Cold grief settled in her lungs, hollowing out her chest as she breathed. How could she last like this, when every single day drained the very life from her bones?

Three. Whole. Days. 

And her pain was still growing, building, getting stronger. 

It didn't feel like it would ever end.

* * *

Togepi trilled happily on Bede's bed, unaware of the grief tearing through her Trainer's body. She plodded over to him, her tiny feet tapping softly on the covers. Bede sat down, trying to forget the day's events as he prodded Togepi's cheek with his knuckle absently. He glanced at the innocent Pokemon who remained completely oblivious of the chasm she'd split between him and Gloria. Togepi chimed and nuzzled into Bede's hand- an adorable gesture that would have melted Gloria's heart for sure. 

Even now, his mind went to her. He sighed through his teeth at the cold pang of guilt and regret in his chest. She'd turned away from him today. Her face paling when their eyes had met, Gloria had marched off and left him to swallow his regrets, to silence the call of her name he'd formed in his throat. 

He should have followed her. Both today and when the egg had hatched, he should have dropped everything to follow her. 

He should have- but it was too late now. 

Bede stroked Togepi's cheek with the tip of his finger, feeling numb when the baby Pokemon smiled at him. He didn't want to let it end like this. He couldn't. Not without seeing Gloria one last time. Not when he hadn't been properly apologised to her, not when he still hadn't told her how he felt.

Even if she hated him now, even if she didn't want anything to do with him, he wanted to tell her. 

Even if she would certainly reject him, he couldn't let this end without voicing and bearing his soul to her. He wouldn't leave things left unsaid. Not again. 

Not this time.

Togepi trilled, blinking up at him. That sweet chime made his lips pull into a forlorn smile as the ache in his heart spread through his chest, his veins, the whole of his body. 

"I wish I could see her again," he whispered in the silence of his room.

Light gleamed from Togepi's hands. Left and right they swayed, Togepi chiming happily, and Bede's eyes widened in shock. He recoiled as blinding light swallowed him.

"What are you-"

* * *

A gasp broke the silence and Gloria's eyes shot open. Fear gripped her like a vice. Heart stopped. 

There was someone in her room. Right before her, a figure in the dark. Ice lanced through her veins, throat clamping tight in fear. She froze stiff. Couldn't breathe. The figure moved, turning on the spot, and Gloria's heart crawled up her throat with a silent scream. 

Something caught her eyes and she paused. Something familiar about the way the shadow moved, and the shifting of what looked like hair on its head… 

Gloria clicked her bedside lamp on, and the figure shielded their eyes from the light.

"Bede?!"

"What in the…?" 

He dropped his arm from his face and blinked at her. Gloria sat up, staring at him as her heart flopped like a Magicarp on land in her chest. He looked as confused as she felt, standing there in his Galarian Ponyta Pyjamas. 

"What are you doing here?!" she gaped. "How did you get in my room?" 

Something flashed behind his eyes, and the sight of it made Gloria stiffen. She drew her blankets closer to her, drawing up her walls, and realised she didn't care why or how he ended up here. 

"Forget it," she said quickly, "just get out. I don't want you here." 

"Gloria, wait-" 

"Do you want me to scream?" She met his eyes, stared him down, as a lump wedged in her throat. "'Cause I'll scream." 

Her threat hung in the air. 

"Get out."

"At least let me explain-"

"No." Harder this time, she spat,  _ "get out."  _

Bede's expression twisted. From shock into frustration, his brow furrowing and mouth opening in protest, before it faded into resignation. His shoulders slumped for a moment. He collected himself and straightened, glancing away from her. The hard steel of his gaze sent a wave of heat over her eyes. 

_ Did he not care at all? _

He turned from her as Gloria's bedroom door opened. 

"Shouldn't you be sleeping…?" Gloria's mother trailed off in shock at the late night visitor in her daughter's room. 

"I was just leaving," Bede said, and dexterously slipped out of the room. 

"Gloria?" 

The insinuation in her mother's voice made Gloria taste bile. She huffed and flopped back down on her bed, clicking off the light. 

"Ask him, not me," she snapped. "I didn't want him here." 

Her mother lingered in the doorway, a wedge of light from the hall cutting into the bedroom, before she sighed. 

"I'll talk to you when I'm done with him," Gloria's mother said firmly. "Don't go anywhere."

The door shut, drowning Gloria in darkness, and her expression contorted with indignation. Vehement pain rose up her throat, a scream of protest, of denial, that she swallowed down. 

She'd done nothing wrong. 

She didn't want this, any of this, to happen. 

She didn't want to see Bede. Didn't want to be reminded of what she'd lost, of the Togepi that now belonged to him, and the friendship she'd torn apart with her own stubborn hands. 

She was an idiot. 

* * *

Bede had marched straight for the front door before he'd realised just how poor his predicament was. With nothing but the Pyjamas on his back, he had no way to secure a ride to Ballonlea. To make matters worse, his phone was nowhere in sight either. 

He stilled by the door, the pounding of his heart finally beginning to slow, and as the shock of the situation wore off, it dawned on him just how badly the whole thing looked. He didn't have time to wrap his head around  _ how _ he'd ended up in Gloria's bedroom, as her mother walked over to him with a serious look on her face. 

"Care to explain yourself?" she asked. 

Her expression relaxed a fraction as she studied him, but he couldn't help but feel exposed under her gaze. This was Gloria's mother, and that fact alone was enough to heighten the tension in his chest. 

"I'm not entirely sure what happened myself," he admitted slowly. 

"You're not entirely sure of how you ended up in my daughter's bedroom?" 

Bede almost winced in shame, and his eyes slid from her to the floor. 

He cleared his throat and tried again. "What I meant to say is that, most likely, I was teleported here by my Pokemon. The exact method of how that occurred is what I can't yet explain."

Gloria's mother listened closely, before asking, "why would your Pokemon teleport you here? And why aren't they with you?" 

"From what I can gather, Togepi must have used Metronome," Bede explained. "I doubt the move she landed on was Teleport itself, which leaves me to believe that perhaps she used Wish, instead." 

_ Wish. _

Togepi must have used Wish. The last thing he'd said before he'd been teleported was… 

_ "I wish I could see her again." _

_ Oh.  _

Bede's heart skipped at that realisation, and warmth began to pool across his cheeks. He'd wished to see Gloria, and Togepi had granted it- by teleporting him right into her bedroom. 

"Whatever the cause may be," he said quickly, "I'm sorry for disturbing you so late at night. It wasn't my intention to end up here, especially as… Gloria doesn't seem to be receptive of my presence at the moment."

He hadn't been able to tell her. To say anything at all. 

_ So much for things being different this time. _

Gloria's mother smiled gently, unfolding her arms. "Just give her some time, alright? She'll come around." 

Bede lifted his gaze at her reassurance, and saw understanding in the eyes of Gloria's mother. It eased the tension in his chest enough that he could return her smile. 

"Thank you," he said. 

He wasn't so sure it was as simple as that- the wound he'd inflicted on Gloria was deeper than what time itself could heal. 

"How about I call and pay for a Sky Taxi for you?" Gloria's mother offered, "and, while we wait, would you mind telling me your side of the story? I heard most of what happened from Gloria, although I'd like to hear it from you as well."

Bede nodded slowly.

Explaining it to her was the least he could do.

* * *

Minutes passed and Gloria could still hear their muffled conversation from her bedroom. The low tones of Bede's voice reached her and stoked a blaze of irritation in her chest. He hadn't left. He was still here, still in her house, talking to her mother- she threw off the covers and stalked to the door, ready to kick it open and berate Bede with the fire roaring up her throat, before she finally made out what he was saying. 

What, and who, he was talking about. 

"I don't blame her for not wanting to see me," Bede was saying, "after the mistake I made cost her the Togepi she'd been so excited about." 

A pause. Gloria thought she heard someone sigh. Her hand lingered on the doorknob, frozen in place by Bede's honesty. 

"I seem to have a knack for it," he continued, "making grave mistakes, leaving them too late to fix. I'm sure she hates me now for what I did." 

Gloria's heart thumped in her ears. It stole her breath, left her speechless and gaping, as her blood ran cold. 

He thought… he thought she hated him.

_ No, I- _

The words wouldn't come out. Caught in her throat, kept in place by the tightening vice around her neck. 

_ I don't… _

Did she? 

Gloria didn't know anymore. Bede's voice, slightly muffled by the door, carried the weight of his regret. It hit her all at once, and she didn't catch her mother's reply. Her mind span. Confused, disoriented, she couldn't comprehend the contrasting emotions rising from within her. 

He thought she hated him. 

She didn't, but- 

It hurt too much. How could he be the one upset when he'd done this to her- 

How could she do this to him?

He'd stolen Togepi. A Fairy Type that suited him, a better fit for him, for Ms Opal's successor. A Togekiss of his own it would evolve to be. He deserved it more than her- 

He deserved to hurt more than her- 

_ It hurt. _

Agony squeezed her heart when she heard her name on Bede's lips. Her mouth opened in the form of his name, voiceless and silent, and nothing came out. Nothing but tears slid down her cheeks. 

They moved further away, the conversation between Gloria's mother and Bede muffling to the point of incoherence, before the front door clicked open. 

He was leaving. 

And she couldn't move. 

The unmistakable sounds of a Sky Taxi door opening and shutting sent Gloria's heart into the pit of her stomach. She stood there in her room, unmoving, as it took off into the night. 

Bede was gone. For whatever reason, he'd come to see her, tried to explain himself, and she'd shut him out. She'd pushed him away and closed off a piece of her heart in the process. The pain in her chest was raw and aching, and a sob caught in her throat.

He thought she hated him. 

When Gloria's bedroom door opened again, tears were already coursing down her cheeks. She fell into her mother's arms and cried. 

It was too much. Too much pain, too much guilt, too much to bear all at once. 

"Oh, Glori…" Her mother embraced her warmly, cradling her close. Gently patting Gloria's back as she sobbed. 

"It's- it's all my fault," the words tore from her chest, leaving her throat raw. 

It hurt. 

"He- He hates me now…!" 

The expression on Bede's face when she'd snapped at him, hissed at him to get out, remained in her mind. He'd closed himself off to her. Steeled himself, and his walls, back in place. The hurt that had flashed in his eyes sent ripples of pain through her body. She shuddered with a broken wail.

"Why would he hate you? He's your friend." 

Her mother's reassurance did nothing to soothe her pain. The look Bede had given her said enough, spoke louder than words, and Gloria knew she'd made a grave mistake. Everything she'd fought for, the friendship she'd struggled to build over her first year as Champion, had crumbled into dust before her eyes. 

She'd destroyed it herself.

"I screwed everything up," Gloria choked out through sobs. "He thinks- he thinks I hate him, and… and I did! I hated him for doing this to me…!" 

Her grip on her mother's arms tightened. Pressed her head firmer into her mother's shoulder, muffling her cries. 

She had hated Bede, hated him with such vehemence, that to even think about him had stoked an angry blaze in her chest. She'd burned with fury and betrayal, pure white-hot indignation, at the thought of Togepi being happy with him. Pain overwhelmed everything else. His apology forgotten beneath her agony, shoved aside and left to rot. 

_ She'd hated him. _

She really had- but seeing him tonight, hearing him say that he wouldn't blame her for hating him, had done something inexplicable to her. Like a shot of clarity through her heart, she'd realised what she'd done. 

Bede, her friend, who had been abandoned and betrayed by the people he loved most in this world not once but twice, thought she was doing the same to him. 

_ "I seem to have a knack for it." _

Regret. Guilt. His voice soft as a sigh, heavy with dejection. Resigning himself to it all.

_ "...Making grave mistakes, leaving them too late to fix."  _

Acceptance.

He'd given up. Accepted that she, like everyone else before her, had abandoned him. She'd brought his worst fear to life and stabbed him in the back with it. 

"I'm sorry…!" she sobbed as her mother held her close. "I'm so- I'm so sorry…!" 

Everything she couldn't say to Bede. 

"I didn't want to-" cut off by a sob, she cried, "-I didn't mean to do this…!" 

_ I didn't mean to hurt him…! _

The worst. She was the worst. Searing cold seeped through her veins, aching from within, and she curled up tighter in her mother's arms. Closer, smaller, she trembled and howled, screaming until her throat was raw, dragging her regrets, her guilt, out until there was nothing left but a burning ache. 

She really was the worst. 

* * *

Gloria cried until she went numb. Her chest hollowed out, leaving a gaping expanse where her heart had been. She felt empty and heavy. Her eyes hurt when she blinked and her head throbbed. Crying had sapped the energy from her bones, and she remained in her mother's arms, unable to care enough to move. 

_ Everything…  _

_ She'd ruined everything…  _

"These things happen," her mother was saying. 

Gloria could barely hear her, let alone comprehend what was being said. It was as if her mother's voice floated around the room.

"Friends fall-out and make up all the time. Just because you've had a bit of a clash doesn't mean that's the end of your relationship." 

_ Didn't it?  _

The hurt in Bede's eyes flashed again in her mind. What she'd done to him was more than a simple falling-out. His pain ran deeper than that. 

"I spoke to Bede," her mother continued, "and I know he still cares about you. He wants to talk to you again, to sort all this out. Don't give up on him so soon, okay?" 

_ Don't give up on him? _

Gloria closed her eyes as they prickled with tears. 

_ How could she ever do such a thing? _

"Why don't you try and get some sleep?" Gloria's mother suggested. "It's late, and you've had a long day. In the morning, if you're feeling up to it, it might be worth giving him a visit. Even a phone call would do. I'm sure if you two talk this over, you'll be able to sort everything out." 

Gloria nodded slowly, her movements feeling heavy and stiff, and pulled out of her mother's arms. 

"I'm here for you, okay?" her mother said, giving Gloria's arm a tender squeeze. "Whatever happens, I'll be here." 

She leant down and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Gloria's head. 

"We'll sort this out in the morning. For now, try and sleep." She lingered for a moment, and Gloria made herself nod. The only response she could muster. "Goodnight, Gloria. I love you."

Gloria nodded again. She turned on her heels as her mother left, flopping facedown on her bed in the dark. Her heart pounded heavily, bringing forth memories of Bede, the hurt in his eyes, the way he'd stiffened and hurried from her room.

She couldn't leave it like this. Regret squeezed tight in her chest, and she couldn't bear to fall asleep when she knew Bede was hurting because of her. She reached for her phone before pausing. 

That wasn't enough. 

No, what she wanted- what she needed right now… 

Gloria stood off her bed and marched for her wardrobe, pulling out the first jacket she found and threw it on. Her bag was next, a Pokeball retrieved and held tight as she made for her window. Cold air washed over her as she opened the window, and she waited. She waited and listened for a brief moment. When she heard nothing, no lights clicking on, no doors opening or footsteps, she carefully climbed out the window. 

Pokeball in hand, Gloria set off down the street to where she wouldn't be seen or heard. 

What she needed right now was to see Bede.

* * *

Ballonlea was silent, illuminated by the eerie glow of mushrooms throughout the cozy town. It was darker than usual without the rays of sunlight that filtered through the thick canopy during the day, and Gloria didn't want to risk shattering the quiet atmosphere, so she landed her Corviknight by the entrance to Glimwood Tangle. She recalled her Pokemon and wrapped her arms around her middle as the deep chill of the woods at night seeped into her bones. 

There was no one around. It had to be past midnight, but by how many hours, Gloria didn't know. The Pokemon that normally filled the streets and tittered at passersby from the rooftops were nowhere to be seen. Ballonlea was empty and still, which meant that any sounds or movements Gloria made would stand out against the rest of the town. She crept forward with her heart in her throat, deciding to stick to side paths and avoid the main street. The soft earth muffled her footsteps, which took some of the tense weight off Gloria's shoulders.

She didn't know what she was doing, stalking around Ballonlea in the dead of night, and hoped to Arceus that no one would spot her. There was no excuse she could come up with to explain why the Champion was wandering around Ballonlea in her pyjamas after midnight- or, at least, there was no excuse that wouldn't spark wild rumours about her and a certain Gym Leader. Gloria grimaced at that thought. It was bad enough that she'd come here at all, past midnight and in her pyjamas no less, but if knowledge of this got out and spread to the media… 

She didn't want to think about that right now. She had more important, more pressing issues to worry about instead- like what on earth she was doing creeping up to Ms Opal's house like some kind of rabid fangirl? She felt like some kind of stalker, shuffling around in the dark towards the house Ms Opal was kind enough to let Bede stay in. She hadn't thought this far ahead. In her desperation to see Bede, she hadn't planned on what to do when she reached his house. Gloria stared at the front door, her heart thumping in her chest and echoing in her ears. 

What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't very well just knock on the front door- and in a show of brilliance, she'd left her phone behind. Gloria shivered, cursing herself and her stupidity. Her toes were beginning to freeze in the cold dirt. How had she been smart enough to grab a jacket, yet stupid enough not to wear shoes and leave her phone at home? 

Some Champion she was turning out to be. 

With a quiet huff, Gloria decided that she'd already come this far- she wasn't about to give up now. She couldn't, not with the resolute gnawing in her chest that drove her to see Bede. To be with him, to talk to him… that feeling spurred her onwards, and she made for the side of the house. She knew where Bede's bedroom was, where his window had to be. That was her best option. 

She thought back to how he'd just appeared in her room all of a sudden, as she stepped over a cluster of glowing blue mushrooms. Bede's gasp in the dark was what had alerted her to his presence, and she wondered how he'd managed to get into her bedroom without her noticing. Had his Hatterene teleported him there? 

Gloria eased herself around a beautifully flowering bush, a hand pressed to the side of the house for balance. A branch snapped beneath her foot. The  _ crack _ split the silence and she froze, heart drumming in her ears. She held her breath. Waited with her back pressed to the side of the house. Seconds passed. Silence remained in place, and she let out the air in her lungs with a stifled sigh. 

She edged herself around Ms Opal's house slower than before, continuing on with her heart wedged high in her throat. She was definitely in too deep to back out now, and her pulse skipped when she reached a window that - she hoped - led into Bede's room. Blackout curtains blocked her view inside the room, and she thought over the layout of Ms Opal's house in order to make sure she'd found the right window. 

For a trepid second, Gloria wondered if she'd even gotten the right house. She shoved that thought aside and took a deep breath. It was now or never- she had to do this. She'd come all this way to see him. It was Bede her heart ached for, and she followed that urge and rapped her knuckles on the window. 

Silence fell. The curtains remained still. Gloria's heart thumped, and she quickly tapped the window again. Three times, loud enough to make her wince and glance around in fear that someone else would hear. 

Again, she was met with silence. 

_ Bede- _

She needed to see him. Lifted her hand to knock again, to pound harder and louder this time, when the curtains flew open. A gasp caught in her throat. Violet eyes narrowed in a searing glare levelled on her, before recognition swept over his face and Bede blinked in shock. His mouth dropped open, lips moving to sound what could have been her name, and Gloria nodded. Emotions swelled in her chest, rising and rising with such force and urgency, that she stepped forward without thinking. She smiled, breathing a giddy, quiet laugh. A laugh of relief, of joy, of so much she couldn't name upon seeing him. It was overwhelming, and her bottom lip wobbled as she reached out, pressing her fingertips to the glass. 

"Bede-" she choked his name out in a whisper. Nothing else would form. 

He searched her eyes, scanned her face, before he shook his head in disbelief. Without a word, he placed his fingers where hers lay, a thin sliver of cold glass the only thing separating them. He looked at her for a moment longer, his expression unreadable, although his gaze had softened. She stepped back as he pulled the window open. 

"What… What are you doing here?" Bede asked. 

His question was gentle, voice uncertain and worried. He looked at her in concern, and it made her heart squeeze tight, a lump forming in her throat. There was so much she wanted to say, so much she needed to tell him, and it all caught on her tongue at once. 

She sucked in a breath, the frigid air filling her lungs with enough of a shock that she could speak. 

"I needed to see you," she said. 

The truth, and nothing more. 

Bede's eyes widened. "How did you…?" he trailed off and shook his head. "Just… come inside before you freeze, alright? I wouldn't hear the end of it if I let the Champion get hypothermia..." 

He stepped back from the window, looking elsewhere as his brow furrowed slightly. The cold left a slash of pink high on his cheeks. Gloria went to climb in through his window when she felt the dirt between her toes, caking the soles of her feet, and she stopped. 

"Um, my feet are covered in dirt," she said sheepishly. 

Her heart flopped heavily, and she suddenly remembering how stupid she was being. How ridiculous this whole thing was.

And, with a start, she realised that she must've woken Bede up. 

"That's what happens when you don't wear shoes," Bede sighed. "Look, if it's dirt, I don't particularly care. I'll clean it up later. I'd rather have you inside than leave you out there when you're dressed like that." 

Gloria swallowed her shame and climbed through the window at Bede's insistence. He shut the window behind her, and she stared down at her feet, refusing to move from the spot, and tried not to think about the soft, cream carpet beneath her grimy feet. 

_ Idiot. _

She bit back tears, bit down on her bottom lip to stop it trembling. 

_ How had she forgotten to wear shoes? _

She was just making another mess. Screwing up again. Wrecking the lovely cream carpet because she was an idiot who forgot to wear shoes, because she was reckless and impulsive and came here to see Bede on nothing but a feeling alone… 

She was a bother. 

Nothing but a bother. 

A towel blocked Gloria's view of her feet, shoved into her hands by Bede. She looked up at him as his eyes shifted away from her again. 

"You can use that to clean your feet," he said, "if you're that worried about it." 

She hadn't seen him leave to get the towel, and she blinked at it before realising that he was trying to be considerate. 

"Thanks," she said quietly. A fuzzy warmth settled over her cheeks as she leant against the wall and cleaned her feet with the towel. 

_ Here he was being nice to her when she was too busy thinking about herself…  _

_ After everything she'd done... _

It made her feel worse, churning something sickly in her gut. Nerves flittered in her chest, and as Bede stepped away from her, she couldn't stop herself from glancing around the room. 

Bede's bedroom. She'd climbed through the window of  _ Bede's bedroom.  _ Her gaze froze on his bed, the covers in disarray as he'd been sleeping minutes earlier. Gloria's heart pounded harder than before, making her breath catch for a second. She'd only been in here once, and that was when Bede had pulled her in here to hide from Ms Opal- they'd been caught anyway, but at the time, she'd barely gotten a glance before Bede had stepped in front of her and hissed, "eyes front!" 

Gloria remembered that Ms Opal had teased them about being a couple, about interrupting them during a private moment, and her head began to spin. 

A private moment. As in…  _ an intimate moment. _

With Bede. 

She forced her eyes quickly away from Bede's bed, and hurried to rid her feet of the rest of the dirt. She had to do what she came here for and leave before anyone, let alone Ms Opal, discovered her here. 

_ Why had she come here…? _

Gloria's mind stalled. Slowly, she looked up from her feet - now completely clean - to where Bede was standing awkwardly by his bedside table. Even though it was well past midnight, not a single light was needed to illuminate the room as the glow from the mushrooms outside provided enough for them to see. She understood now why he had blackout curtains on his windows, as she could clearly make out the displeasure on his face from across the room. Bede wore a sullen frown, his lips slightly curled, looking at something away from her. 

Her heart plummeted. 

_ This was a mistake. _

"How did you get here?" Bede asked, finally drawing his gaze to her. His frown vanished, expression returning to an unreadable one, a mask he'd slipped in place to hide how he really felt about her presence. 

She tried to swallow down the lump in her throat before replying. "I flew. On my Corviknight." 

A pause. 

"Why?" 

Gloria stepped forward. "Because I-" Regret surged in her chest, tears washed over her eyes. "I… I'm sorry…!"

It was too much. She slapped a hand over her mouth as a sob tore from her throat. 

_ No…!  _

Gloria choked on a whimper, forcing both hands over her mouth as she couldn't stop herself from crying, she couldn't stop the tears from falling. 

_ I haven't-  _

_ I haven't said anything to him yet…! _

She couldn't cry now, not with her regrets wedged in her throat, not when she had so much to tell him, so much to apologise for. 

This wasn't what she wanted.

"Gloria, what- what happened?" 

She couldn't see him through her tears, and squeezed her eyes shut in shame. The gentle touch of Bede's hands on her arms made her sob.

"What's wrong?" 

She couldn't do this. Gloria fell into him, burying her head into his chest as it became all too much. 

Her regret, her guilt, her hatred and pain, it was overwhelming. Crushing her, choking her. Breaking her down from within. 

She clung to Bede desperately as her lungs heaved for air. Her arms wrapped around him, holding him tight, too afraid to let him go. 

"What happened?" he asked again. Softer now, his voice by her ear was filled with concern. 

Gloria forced down a sob, swallowed a gasp of air. She had to tell him-

"-I'm sorry…!" 

Muffled by his shirt, she cried. 

"I'm so, so sorry…!" 

She held him tighter, tighter still. Fingers winding into the soft fabric of his pyjama top, threading and clawing into it for purchase. It hurt too much to let him go. 

"What are you apologising for?" His hands swept up and down her back. "Hey? You didn't do anything wrong." 

But she had. She'd hurt him. Pushed him away, ignored him-

She'd hated him. 

Gloria gritted her teeth and wailed. Her guilt and regret tore through her as he assumed she'd done nothing wrong. 

He had no idea just how pathetic she was. 

"But I did!" she choked out, "I-I hurt you!" 

She sobbed, sucked in a sharp breath. Pressed her brow firmer against Bede's chest as her guilt sank heavier, harder, on her shoulders. 

"I'm sorry, it wasn't your fault but I- I… I ignored you and… and you were right!" 

Gloria clung to him. 

It was too much. 

"I hated you! I hated you so much and it wasn't even you fault, and- I'm sorry! I'm sorry…!" 

She was pathetic. 

His hands stilled from the comforting ministrations he'd been doing on her back, and she knew then that she'd said too much. 

She'd broken it. Destroyed it. 

Their friendship, crumbling to dust in her hands. 

"I'm sorry…!" She couldn't bear the silence. The guilt. The trepidation as she waited for Bede to push her away. "Please don't- don't hate me…! I'm sorry…! Please, I can't…" 

Her heart ached. 

"I don't want this to end," Gloria sobbed. Her voice quiet, broken. A whisper. "You mean so much to me, I…" 

It hurt.

"I love you…!" 

All at once, Bede finally wrapped his arms around her and held her close. A shaky gasp sounded by her ear.

"Gloria, I don't…" A pause as he took a breath. "How could I ever hate you?" 

His warmth enveloped her, the firm pressure of his arms grounding her, and a sob escaped her chest. 

"But I-I was so horrible to you," Gloria said into his shirt. The fabric dampened by her tears. "Everything I did to you, when you didn't deserve it, I was- I was so horrible…!" 

"I wouldn't hate you for that. Not now, not ever." 

Bede sighed softly, his breath tickling Gloria's ear. There was something about his voice, so much more tender and soft than before, and she found her tears drying in his embrace. 

"I… you know, I…" He cleared his throat. "I… feel the same way about you." 

Gloria began to settle, and she took a deep breath. No longer did her lungs heave, or her chest shudder, and she loosened the vice grip of her fingers in the back of Bede's shirt. She blinked for a moment, his words confusing her. 

"Hm?" she sounded. "What do you mean?"

Bede coughed. "I mean, about… what you said earlier. When you said that you…" 

He trailed off. Gloria tried to think back over what she'd said, but her mind was fuzzy and exhausted. Everything she'd said had come from her heart, her emotions, and she'd blurted out so many things at once she hadn't been able to keep track of it all. The rapid thumping of a heart by her ear gave her a clue, however, and her chest began to flutter. 

"You mean, when I said that I love you?"

Her heart skipped when Bede twitched against her, and she knew she'd hit the nail on the head. Heat coiled tightly on her cheeks in embarrassment, and in slight amusement, at Bede's obvious discomfort- who would've known he'd be shy about something like that? 

Gloria smiled against him, knowing her grin was out of sight. "You mean so much to me, Bede, I… I really do love you. You've been such a good friend to me and I don't want to lose that." 

A disgruntled, shaky sigh swept by her ear. "You… How can you say that so easily?" Bede huffed, making Gloria stifle a laugh. " I know you mean it as a friend, but still, something like that is… well… A-Anyway, I already said enough on that subject." 

The telltale hitch in his voice revealed the depth of his embarrassment, and it warmed Gloria's heart.

"So, you… don't hate me?" she asked. 

Despite his reassurances, a sliver of her heart doubted his words. Her guilt ran too deep to be persuaded as of yet and, above everything else, she wanted to hear him say it and dispel her fears.

"Of course I don't." Bede gave her a gentle squeeze, and her heart squeezed in response. "You had every right to be upset with me, I never once thought badly of you for it. After what I did-" 

"-It wasn't your fault!" 

Gloria tore out of his embrace, thrusting herself backwards so she could glare right at him. A stubborn fire grew inside her, and she stared him down. 

"It wasn't your fault," she said again, "and you apologised. I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you." 

She slumped, recalling how pathetic she'd acted after Togepi had clung so happily to Bede. 

"I'm… really sorry," Gloria sighed, "for acting that way after you apologised, and I knew you felt bad about it too, but I… I just got so upset…" 

Bede touched her arm gently. "It's fine, Gloria. There's nothing for you to apologise about. I should have known better than to speak when a baby Pokemon has just hatched." 

Her lips pulled into a faint smile, trembling slightly before it faded. 

"I guess… this whole thing has been a bit of a mess, huh?" She looked to the side, her vision not focusing on anything. "I got upset with you, hated you, then thought you hated me…"

"That's what I don't understand. Why would you have thought I hated you?" 

Gloria grimaced, and shrugged. "I don't know. Because I… I was treating you like how…"

She didn't want to say it. 

"'How' what?" Bede asked. 

"Like how… you've been treated in the past by…  _ other people."  _ Her voice lowered to a whisper. "By… Oleana, and Rose, and…" 

His family.

"You are nothing like them, Gloria." 

She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to look at him under the weight of her shame.

"What they did to me, and how you reacted after Togepi imprinted on me, are on entirely different levels."

"I know, but I- I didn't want you to think I was going to do something like that to you…" Gloria swallowed the growing lump in her throat. "I just… I feel so bad about what I did, how I acted towards you, and the thought that I might have made you believe I was going to do the same thing to you…" 

She didn't get to complete her sentence, as Bede wrapped her in another hug. He was firm yet gentle with his embrace, and he cradled her close for a few seconds of silence.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, "for letting you suffer with this, when I could have stopped it. I was far too wrapped up with the thought that I deserved your hatred to realise that you were hurting too." 

Her heart swelled, filling with so much that she couldn't voice, couldn't turn into words, and all she could do was hug him back in return. They stayed like that, in each other's arms, a lingering embrace that made each moment feel like an eternity. Time itself slowed, and neither wanted to pull away. Their shared pain, shared guilt and regret and remorse, fell away in the silence between them. 

* * *

Bede released Gloria quickly when she moved to pull out of his embrace. His movements were stiff and awkward, and his heart pounded like a drum in his chest. He hoped she hadn't heard, or felt, it pounding away, and he cleared his throat. Nerves fluttered in his belly. Heat crawled across his face, flushing his cheeks a dark crimson, and he glanced away from the girl he was utterly enamoured with, the one who'd spent so long crying in his arms, who looked so adorable in her pyjamas. 

Gloria, who had crawled through his window in the dead of night, because she 'needed to see him,' who had cried 'I love you,' in the midst of her tears, and stopped his heart dead. 

And he'd almost said something reckless in return. 

Now, he couldn't stop thinking about how lovely it had sounded to hear her say that, even if it was purely platonically. 

_ She'd… she'd really said that… _

_ "I love you…!"  _

"Bede?" 

He jolted, snapping back to the present, as Gloria blinked at him sheepishly. White teeth peeked over her bottom lip as she nibbled that delicate flesh, and Bede's mouth went suddenly dry. He became aware of their situation at once- remembered that they were in his bedroom, that it was well past midnight, and had just spent a long time in the comfort of each other's embrace. With Gloria looking up at him like that, his mind span, and he desperately wanted to pull her into his arms again so he didn't have to endure having her eyes on him any longer. He wasn't thinking straight, and the yearning of his heart was growing stronger with every second. 

Arceus, he wanted to hug her again. To hold her close, to run his fingers through her hair and hear her whisper his name again, to hear her say-

"Bede?" A hand waved in front of his face. "Earth to Bede?" 

He took a sharp step back, almost stumbling into his desk. Her eyes widened, before she furrowed her brow at him, confused.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly. 

_ This was bad. _

Bede coughed, glancing elsewhere. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm a bit tired, that's all."

Having Gloria here, in his bedroom - in her pyjamas, no less - was doing all sorts of horrible things to his composure, corrupting his thoughts, his mind, his self-control. 

"Oh, sorry. I woke you up, didn't I?" She laughed sheepishly. 

"No, I was awake," he admitted quickly when her expression fell. "I hadn't yet been able to fall back asleep." 

Gloria nodded slowly, pursing her lips together in thought. "Well, if it's not too much of a bother, I was wondering if… I could see Togepi?" 

"Are you sure?" He remembered how the last time she tried to interact with Togepi went. 

"Yes, please." The longing in her eyes made his heart skip. "I won't stay for too long, I don't want to keep you up or anything, but… I really want to see her." 

"I don't mind," he said, shrugging nonchalantly, as though he didn't have to stop himself from saying that he wouldn't mind if she stayed with him longer. 

He retrieved Togepi's Great Ball as he pushed that thought away.

"Togepi still isn't great with other people," Bede warned, before saying, "and if you're not careful, she might use Metronome and teleport you somewhere." 

"Has she done that to you?" Gloria asked. "Wait, is that how you ended up in my room?" 

He breathed a short huff, smiling down at the Great Ball in his hand. "Yes - although, I believe Togepi used Wish rather than Teleport, otherwise she would have ended up there with me. I doubt she would have been able to teleport me there in the first place, anyway." 

"How can Wish teleport someone? Isn't it meant to grant the wish of the Pokemon? Or…" she trailed off, her eyes lingering on Bede. 

He swallowed. "Here, I'll, uh, send Togepi out." 

"Wait, Bede." 

A second passed, then another. His grip tightened around the Great Ball, and he glanced at her. 

"Why did Togepi's Wish send you to my room?"

His heart thumped heavily in his chest. 

"The reason hardly matters now." 

"It does to me," she insisted. 

Harder and faster, his heartbeat raced. Spurred on by her persistence, her question, the intent behind her eyes, his pulse spiked. She wasn't going to let this go any time soon.

"I said something aloud and Togepi used Wish in order to grant it," Bede said, turning away from her. His cheeks flooded with heat, and he scowled at his bed as though it had offended him. 

"Will you tell me what you said?" Gloria asked. She stepped over to him silently, and he continued burning a hole into his blankets with his glare. 

"Why does it even matter to you?" 

_ Did she really want him to say it?  _

"It matters to me, because… I want to know you more, Bede."

Her honesty drew his eyes to her, softening his glare into something he couldn't control, something warmer and deeper, the short distance between them not enough for the aching of his heart.

In the silence of his bedroom, her brown eyes reflecting the glowing kaleidoscope of colours from the mushrooms outside, Bede found that he couldn't look away. The world seemed so beautiful when it was in her eyes, and the longing in his own stared back at him.

"I said-" _Arceus, he really did love her,_ "-that I wished to see you," he whispered. 

He caught the faintest shiver run through her body, her pupils dilating and darkening her eyes. The sight sent a spear of heat straight down Bede's spine, the jolt crackling through his veins and tingling the tips of his fingers and toes, as though a bolt of lightning had passed through him in that instant. 

"A-Anyway, you wanted to see Togepi, correct?" Bede cleared his throat roughly, turning his head away from her before he did something, or said something, stupid. 

Gloria coughed quietly, and nodded. "Yes. If that's still okay?" 

"Of course it is." 

He ignored the fact that his blood ran like liquid fire, and sent Togepi out onto his bed. The baby Pokemon gave a tiny yawn, sleepily blinking her dark eyes, and Gloria stifled a gasp at the sight. 

"Hey, Togepi," Bede greeted her softly. "I'd like you to meet Gloria." 

It was then that Togepi noticed that there was another human in the room, and she stiffened, her eyes latching onto Gloria in fear. 

"It's alright, you don't have to be afraid of her." Bede's heart thumped heavily with trepidation, waiting for the moment Togepi would bolt towards him. 

He didn't expect Gloria to step back. She held up her hands sheepishly, a faint smile gracing her lips as she moved away. 

"It's okay, I don't want to scare her. Seeing her is enough for me," she said.

Her smile, however soft, carried a hint of pain. Togepi seemed to pick up on that, and trilled sadly at Gloria. Her lips trembled, smile waning. 

"Hey there, Togepi." 

Her smile was forced. Fearful, bracing herself for Togepi's rejection. Without thinking, Bede took her hand and held it tight. She laced her fingers with his instinctively. 

"Aren't you adorable?" she said softly. Fragile smile still on her face. "Are you… are you happy with him?" 

Her breath caught, and she sniffled, hurriedly blinking back tears. Bede squeezed her hand. It was all he could do. Togepi's fear of anyone other than him wasn't something he could fix, and seeing Gloria on the verge of tears sent a needle through his heart. 

_ She didn't deserve this. _

Togepi sounded a chirp, and looked at Bede.

"She really loves you, you know?" he found himself saying. "She was so excited to meet you, you should've seen the look on her face when you were about to hatch."

Somehow, the memory drew a short laugh from him. 

Togepi looked confused, glancing between him and Gloria, but stayed put a safe distance away. 

"That's enough," Gloria said, giving Bede a brief smile. "I don't want to push my luck and scare her." 

Togepi tilted her head, and Bede returned her to her Great Ball as Gloria tried to quickly swipe away an escaping tear. 

"At least she didn't run away from me this time," she said lightly. "Thank you."

He wished he could have done more.

"It's the least I could do." Bede shrugged. "If you ever want to see her again, all you have to do is ask."

"Really?" Her eyes lit up. 

"Of course. She was meant to be yours, after all." 

Arceus, the excited way she smiled at him made his heart skip. She went from dejected to happy so quickly it left him breathless sometimes. 

"Thanks, Bede. That means a lot." Her smile brightened, and her gaze lingered on him for a moment. "I should probably get going though, huh?" 

It was then that he remembered it. 

"Wait, before you go…" He walked over to his cupboard and retrieved the box from the top drawer. "I have something for you." 

He handed it over to her, watching as her eyes widened when she opened it. She gasped, and slowly pulled the hat from the box. A black cap, rimmed in pink, with the Fairy Gym logo on the front. A perfect replica of Gloria's favourite hat that had been burned to a crisp in the Wild Area.

"What-? How-?" She gaped at him, at the hat. "I thought they stopped making this design!" 

"I may have had it specially made," he said, unable to hold back his grin at how utterly stunned she was. Before he couldn't blink, she slammed into him, almost knocking him off his feet, and hugged him. 

"Oh, Bede!" She jumped up and down with joy while hugging him, and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I love you so much!"

He almost choked. Those words again, said so easily, sent his heart racing. He flushed with heat, and couldn't say anything in return as she'd rendered him speechless. Gloria pulled out of his arms enough that she could beam a smile at him, and for good measure, she stood up on her toes and pressed her lips to his cheek. A kiss that stole his breath away. 

She stepped back, stifling laugh as Bede absently touched the spot she'd kissed with his fingers. 

"That's my 'thank you,'" she said, holding the hat close to her heart. His cheek tingled from the warmth of her lips, and it was his turn to gape at her, scowling in frustration that she'd manage to fluster him so easily. 

"Saying 'thank you,' would have been satisfactory by itself," he said gruffly. Not that he was complaining. 

Gloria grinned cheekily at him, her smile highlighting the fact that she was blushing as well. 

"Thanks for everything, Bede." She turned towards his window, looking back at him over her shoulder as she opened it. "Goodnight."

He collected himself enough to nod and reply, "Goodnight, Gloria."

She placed the hat on her head, gave him one last smile, before slipping out into the night. 

Despite how tired he was, it took Bede until the early hours of the morning to fall asleep after that. Gloria's voice, her smile and her laughter, as well as the kiss she'd planted on his cheek, kept replaying in his mind. 

Most of all, he kept hearing her say those words to him, over and over again, until he finally believed that she'd actually said it.

_ "I love you…!"  _

She'd really said that to him. 

_ "I love you so much…!  _

Perhaps, one day, he'd be able to say as much in return.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this self indulgent fic (all my fics are self indulgent lol), I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
